The latest on California politics and government

February 21, 2014

Federal authorities have announced a noon press conference in Los Angeles to announce that they are filing charges in a political corruption case that sources said will involve Sen. Ron Calderon.

The announcement comes eight months after the FBI raided Calderon's Capitol office and nearly four months after Al Jazeera America published a leaked affidavit alleging the lawmaker had accepted $88,000 in bribes from an undercover agent and a hospital executive.

The 124-page affidavit laid out two major policy areas under investigation: Tax breaks for film productions and the rate at which hospitals that treat workers compensation patients are reimbursed for performing spinal surgery.

It described an undercover agent asking Calderon to change California's tax credit program for filmmakers so that smaller productions would qualify for the credit. And it alleged that Calderon took bribes from Michael Drobot, the former CEO of Pacific Hospital of Long Beach, and tried to steer legislation in ways that would profit his business.